The Consultant
by Narrie
Summary: Tony is asked to occupy his old job as the consultant for The Avengers after Coulson's death. His first target is a social-shutout named Magdalen. When he arrives to his destination though, he soon finds out that Magdalen was a girl he knew from a young age, Maggie; someone who he thought was dead. Tony Stark/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Okay... I KNOW I shouldn't be writing another fic but I couldn't resist after doing a Robert Downey Jr. Marathon with my friends and also watching Iron Man 1 & 2 within that marathon. So I had to write a fic and I didn't know what to do for the OC but I saw this quote and it inspired me. I added it below so you can read it :)**

**"In spite of all our communication technology, no invention is as effective as the sound of the human voice. When we hear the human voice, we instinctively want to listen, in the hopes of understanding it. Even when the speaker is searching for the right words to say. Even when all we hear is yelling, or crying or singing. That's because the human voice resonates differently from anything else in the world. That's why we can hear a singer's voice over the sound of a full orchestra. We will always hear that singer, no matter what else surrounds it." - TV Show Touch**

**I hope you enjoy the Fic! :D  
**

* * *

Chapter One

"Say hello Magdalen." My father said in a polite manner, but I knew him better than that. He was commanding me to not make him look stupid in front of his new employer.

"Hello, Sir." I said to Howard Stark, who I saw as traditionally handsome, _if you look at the features he has, statistically speaking he would be what society calls a 'ladies man'._

I was still unsure about why exactly I was with my father that day, he never took me anywhere outside of the house in fear of what I would accidentally do. I tried telling him it would be okay, that I wouldn't let another accident happen but he didn't believe me, he didn't trust my words.

"Jarvis, can you please go get Anthony? Have him meet Magdalen in the sitting room. Her father and I must discuss business." His butler, who I could obviously assume was Jarvis, nodded his head slightly and walked towards me.

"This way please, Miss Magdalen." I cringed at the name, every time someone called me by that name, it reminded me of everything I wasn't. I was not graceful, I was not endearing… I was blunt and truthful. I had mousy brown hair that would get knotted after a day; I did not hold myself with confidence, I was no beauty… I was not my mother.

"Please call me Maggie, Sir." Jarvis smiled and I knew that for some reason he understood that I didn't like the full name I was given.

"Very well Miss Maggie. Just have a seat here, would you like some tea or juice?" I shook my head, saying a quiet and polite 'no thank you'. "Then I will be getting Master Tony. Please excuse me." Jarvis left the room and I sat on the couch, swinging my feet.

I played a symphony in my head, hearing all the notes from the different instruments. I focused on the strings, if I could I would just listen to music with violin and piano, yet everything seemed to compliment each other so well together, _I guess that's what the master's learnt early on._ Despite myself, I started to hum a tune to the music going on in my head.

"That's a pretty song." A young boy said to me and smiled as I stopped all noise, panic setting into me. "My name is Tony. It's a pleasure to meet you Maggie." I studied him as he walked towards me; he was my age and had a lot of the same features as his father did. _He will turn into a ladies man too, no doubt_.

"Thank you." I mumbled, but my eyes fell onto the contraption he had in his hands. I jumped off the couch and walked towards Tony, "What is that?" I asked, pointing at the item he held. Tony opened his hand and looked at it.

"This? Oh it's just something I've been working on but there's a short in the system for some reason. It's supposed to make a toy automatically move, but it doesn't." He sounded frustrated but I just smiled. I grabbed it from his hand and started to inspect the components.

"It look's like a connecter issue. The current isn't moving continuously, which will cause it to stop working or not work at all, it just depends on where… the connecter… issue is." It was a fairly simple circuit board, but it was still hard to find the missing piece.

"Here!" I exclaimed, showing Tony the place where the connecter had slightly dislodged. He grabbed it from my hand and stared at it and then at me with astonishment. I just blushed slightly and smiled.

"That's amazing! Come to my room! I will show you all the other things I have made." He grabbed my hand and walked me through the large house. I let him guide my way; I needed him to keep me moving. I was perplexed that someone would hold my hand, to touch me; my father always told me that I was disgusting and revolting ever since my incident, so I had started to believe it; believed that nobody would want to be near me.

We arrived at his room, which was gargantuan. I gasped at the vast space he had in his room, yet he still managed to have his floor covered with toys and tools. He sat down in the middle of his room and pushed items away from the area across from where he was sitting, making room for me to sit.

"Do you have any hobbies, Magdalen?" I smiled at the thought of my music, at how safe it made me feel. When I sang, when I played music, I was in my own world, I wasn't weird or obscure, I was myself and music welcomed me into its life.

"Please call me Maggie. I assume you don't like being called by your full name either?" Tony just shook his head but kept quiet. "I'm one of the youngest concern pianist, I started when I was five. I've been composing my own music since I was eight, but besides music I like working with electronics. I watched my father work for a long time, he doesn't really let me watch him anymore, not since I was eleven." My voice dropped from happy to sad tones and back up to happy, just how most kids talked.

Children always mixed the happy and sad, not really knowing or understanding the true sadness behind situations. I had a genius level intelligence though, I could comprehend that my father truly did hate me, detested my existence and wished every day that I took my mother's place on her deathbed.

"But I had been watching him for so long, I learnt basic robotic engineering. It's more of the hobby I guess, music is my life, it's my passion and will forever be a part of me." Tony was smiling while studying what he had in his hands. I wanted to ask him about himself, about what he wanted to do for his future but Jarvis came to grab me. My father was getting ready to leave and I was to leave with him.

"Good-bye Tony." I said, bowing like I would at the end of a concert. He stood and awkwardly bowed as well.

"I will see you soon Maggie." Those were Tony's last words to me.

* * *

- Tony's POV -

25 years later.

"Stark." Nick Fury greeted me. It had been a year since The Avengers was formed and saved New York. We all went our separate ways after that; Bruce was the only person to stay in New York with me in Stark Towers, which was now the home quarters for anyone that was part of the Avengers team.

"Patches." I greeted him. "What do I owe the astounding pleasure to have you in my home so unexpectedly?" I was being curt, I knew it but I couldn't help it. I loved to push people's buttons, especially Fury's because I knew he had a hard time putting up with me. I was just hoping for the day I would make him react.

"Trust me, I want to be here just as much as you want me here." He sighed and handed me the folder he had been holding, something I noticed the moment he walked in.

"A present? For me? Oh you shouldn't have. How did you know it was my birthday?" I asked, flipping through the files, but there wasn't much at all to the folder.

"It's not your birthday." Fury's voice was monotone, which was the biggest rise I could ever get out of him, _kind of a counter-productive way to react, if you ask me._

"What's this?" I asked, raising the folder in the air. "There isn't anything in here. Not even a photo, except for one when this girl? Is it a girl?" I looked at the rat's nest that sat on top of this unfortunate child's head. She looked familiar in some ways; _maybe I've slept with her recently._

"She doesn't leave her house. She hasn't for the last twenty years. We tried to obtain her but the agent's just always come back saying they wanted to leave her alone. So, we thought about revising your old job for a day." I laughed and tossed the file onto the closest counter.

"And why me? You've sent trained agents there before, what do you think the Iron Man suit will do? Blow up the house? Kick down the door?" I laughed but Fury just shook his head.

"No suit. You go as you. We're lead to believe that you know her, but even if that's not true, for some bizarre reason people like you. I expect her to be here by tomorrow Tony." Fury said, walking away. Giving me the deadline was his way of getting back at me for the patches comment, I knew it.

I arrived at my target's house, it was just outside of New York so I could drive; I didn't have to use my jet, which was nice. _May have been a bit too obnoxious of an entrance._ I walked up to the door and knocked.

"State your name and who you work for." I was greeted by the voice of a gentle woman. I cleared my throat before speaking.

"Anthony, Tony, Stark. I own Stark Industries and am a _special _agent for S.H.E.I.L.D. I have come to talk to the person who resides in this home." I smiled, pleased with myself. "I can only assume that would be you."

"You are talking about Miss Maggie, Sir. I'm happy they finally sent someone she will listen to. Please come in." The door opened and I cautiously walked in, the inside was better up kept than the outside.

"Sorry, who are you then?" I asked, I had a good idea but there was only one other person who had the plans and the ability to make an AI like Jarvis, and that was the person who created the idea, Doctor Rosh; but he has been dead for 20 years.

"Erna, Sir." She said and then I saw her. Her hair was curly and short, almost like a small frizzy bob, but it wasn't until I saw her doe eyes that I knew who she was.

"Maggie?" I asked but she just stood in place, not moving. Almost like a wild animal caught by a predator. She clasped her hands over her mouth, fear behind her eyes. She shook her head and ran past me, not making a sound.

"Your synth is on the kitchen counter, miss." Erna said and I just heard small and fast feet run over the floor. I stood not moving, still trying to realize that Maggie was still here.

"Everyone thought you were dead." I said more to myself, knowing my voice wouldn't travel that far.

"You shouldn't be here Tony." It was Maggie speaking to me now, but I only knew that because her voice didn't sound like her AI's, but it still resembled a robotic tone. She walked back into the hallway and there was an electronic contraption over her mouth, covering the lower part of her face.

"You should never have come, please leave and don't tell anyone I'm here. Please, I beg you." I walked towards her, astonished at what I saw. The voice, you couldn't even really call it a voice though… it was more like a noise, but it came from a small speaker on the apparatus.

"What happened? Did you damage your voice?" She shook her head but took a few steps back.

"Please Tony. It's dangerous to be here, you have to leave." I didn't understand.

"Why? Tell me what happened Maggie, a talented person like you shouldn't be living like this!" It was obvious that she had been alone for the last twenty years, ever since the tragic death of the brilliant Tosh family spread across the news. It was said that the father went insane and killed his whole family, killing himself after.

"You live the same way, the only difference is I don't have a slew of men coming through my door and into my bed." _Ouch._

"Firstly, it is not a _slew_. Secondly, I go outside, I see people. I don't hermit. Please Maggie, I've been sent in to get you to come with me." I don't know why I wanted to help her so badly, maybe it was the fact that I was finally seeing someone who I was heartbroken to know died, or at least I thought she died, or maybe it was because she looked so sad, so scared and I didn't know what it was that could instill so much terror in one person.

"I'm safe here, everyone is safe with me here." _Everyone is safe…_ I thought on those words for a while, not wanting to say anything. There was a clue, a hint in what she said there and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before I understood it. _It was her. She was scared of herself?_

"Maggie, please I can keep you away from others. Just have one person to talk to that isn't an artificial intelligent. No offence Erna."

"None taken, Mr. Stark." Was the polite response from the AI, interrupting my sentence. I heard Maggie laugh and my heart skipped a beat. It wasn't the synthesizer type device that made that noise, it was her natural laugh and it was adorable, sexy and it gave me butterflies, something I hadn't felt in awhile.

"Don't call him Mr. Stark Erna, It's too much like his father. It's Tony, Stark or Tony Stark if you're feeling formal, but never Mr. Stark because that was his father's name. Am I correct?" I felt like I did when I first met her when we were 12, I was floored by her ability to read a person just from their slight reactions to words or tones of voice. I just nodded, I felt like the circuit board she once held, like she was trying to find the flaws in my work, in me.

"You're all over the news Tony, it's hard to not know a lot about you. It seems your arrogance clouds your brilliant mind though." I laughed at her jab, because it wasn't the first time I've been told that and it was true for the most part.

"I've been told that I can be a bit of a diva." I looked at her and saw the smile in her eyes, they glistened as I made fun of myself, as we talked about nonsense that had nothing to do with why I was really here.

"Look, I will have a sound proof musical room built into Stark Towers, I will give you your own floor if that's what it takes to get you to come with me, but please Maggie. I'm begging you to leave this sad life, don't be afraid of yourself anymore." She cringed at my words and she turned her back on me. I had so easily thrown away the small amount of friendship we had just built back with just a few words. I couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Please leave." She said, but I stood my ground, it would take a lot more than two words to make me leave. Maggie turned around; her device was off her face now, tears forming in her eyes. "Leave now!" She yelled angrily and I felt compelled to do as she asked. I turned on my heel and left the house without a second thought.

When I stepped out, I gasped as I came back into my right mind. I was outside and I didn't know how she did it. "She is a delicate person, Tony Stark." Erna's voice spoke to me from the intercom beside the door. "She was born a Musical Empath, but from the distress of losing her mother, it formed into something else and when she lost me, that's what turned her into the person she is now. If you listen to her organic voice through a device, she won't be able to tell you what to do, you won't feel compelled to listen to her, so may I suggest you come back in a proper suit, sir."

I smiled at the idea for two reasons. I always loved wearing the Iron Man suit and I loved going against Fury's orders. "Will do, thank you Erna."

* * *

- Maggie's POV -

"Please Erna, don't let anyone else into this house, ever. Think of what could have happened… I didn't have my synth on." I looked at the item I created after my father tried to murder me, cradled in my hands.

Images of his insane face, the smile that crept across his mouth as he raised the axe above his head and the look of relief as Erna killed him, protecting me ran through my head, all memories I was too customary of. "It worked." I whispered, remembering my father's dying words as he died in his own pool of blood at the foot of my mother's bed.

I sighed and tossed the synth on the hallway table. I hated what I had become, I was dangerous to anyone who tried to talk to me, but I was safe here in this home, away from everyone and everyone away from me. I walked into the kitchen and looked at the kettle resting on the stove. _I need something stronger than tea._

I walked over to the cupboard and opened my father's very old and aged liquor cabinet. I never drank, it wasn't something I was accustomed to, however I thought that between the images that I couldn't get out of my head and the surprise visit from Tony, deemed reason enough for some scotch. I filled a cup and slammed it back, gagging at the taste. I stood in silence for a while before Erna spoke to me.

"I don't know if that was wise." Erna's voice rang through the room as my head started to spin slightly. Groaning I held my head, resting my elbows on the counter. "I always told you, you got more of the mother's genes than your fathers. Your mother would have half a glass of wine and be intoxicated for the night…"

"Shut up." I blatantly cut her off. Erna knew I hated being told I was wrong and I hated talking about my parents. "I know, but what else was I supposed to do _Errrrrrrna?_" I giggled at how much fun it was to say her name like that. "Errrrrrrrrna."

"Please stop miss. You're making a fool of yourself, and we may be expecting company sooner than later." I stopped laughing and looked at a wall, angrily but then I started laughing again.

"You know the one flaw with your program, my dear? I _never_ know where to look. I mean… think about it. Proper social protocol calls for me to look the person in the eyes when I speak to them, but you don't have any eyes, so where do I look and speak to? Do I look at your speakers? At the walls?" I was twirling around in the kitchen, pointing at the various speakers and walls in the room.

"Please stop. You will make yourself sick." I stopped, and felt dizzy. I heard a large bang at the door and then a thud shortly following after.

"GET OUT! LEAVE ME ALONE! GO! LEAVE!" I yelled, walking into the hallway to see who had broken down my door. Seeing an intimidating suit of armor, I rested against the door frame abruptly. "Oh." I said, almost squeaked, surprised as my body collided with the wall. "It's you. I thought I told you to leave earlier, so leave. Shoo."

"No." I heard the suit say and I felt furious.

"I said LEAVE!" Maybe if I shouted, he would feel more compelled to leave.

"And I said no." I tried to walk forward but stumbled on my first step, obviously the drink was taking effect quickly. I felt metal arms catch me and I laughed, I felt weightless.

"You're drunk? How did you get this drunk that fast?" I just shrugged and giggled.

"Who knows? Oh, Erna does, she knows everything, don't you _Errrrrna?"_ I relaxed in Tony's arms, it was nice to have someone to talk to, someone to be around that wasn't something I programmed. "Wait! Why haven't you left? Why aren't you listening to me?"

"Not everyone has to listen to you Maggie." I frowned at him.

"You're making fun of me." I heard him laugh through his suit.

"Very astute observation, Einstein." I frowned even further, hitting his suit, which wasn't the smartest idea. I gripped my fist, cradling with my other. Tony tried to reach out for it, to examine if it was okay but I retracted in a childish way.

"No." I said pouting, pulling back my hand. I slowly blew cold air over it but Tony persisted and grabbed my hand. "I don't like this." Tony moved my hand around, making my fingers move, oblivious to the pain I felt.

"What don't you like? Me holding you or you not always getting your way." I scowled at him.

"I'm not answering that." I could tell me was smiling.

"So Maggie, please come with me and make it so it isn't against your will, because I will just fly away with you once you pass out… which is inevitable at this point." I went to hit him again but he grabbed my hand. "Not smart." He said quickly as my arm relaxed. I let out a sigh knowing I was defeated.

"FINE! Fuck, you are the most persistent bastard I know." He laughed and put me back onto my feet.

"I get that a lot. It's part of the charm, don't you think?" I glared at him, or rather his suit.

"No." I said bluntly and he howled with laughter, I couldn't help but smile a little. "Okay, if I go with you, here are my rules. You bring Erna and you install her into the floor you build for me. You bring my piano with you and you make me a sound proof room where I can sing and play music that NOBODY can get into, not even you."

"Fine, I can enter if I'm in this suit." Tony said, nodding at my requests.

"No…nobody enters Tony." He raised his arms and shook his head.

"Anyone who will be affected by your voice, sure. However, with this on my head," He tapped his helmet, "I'm not affected, ere-go, I can enter." I sighed and slowly nodded.

"Fine, just as long as nobody is hurt. Okay?" Tony nodded.

"Promise."

* * *

**I want a Tony...**

**If this story get's enough response I can write another and maybe continue this one too. I do really like the story, I just don't know how everyone else will feel about it so let me know! Review or put it on Alert or even send me a PM. I always love hearing from readers :D  
**

**As always, thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. :)  
**

**Narrie  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**I know it's a short chapter but I've been busy lately and it's hard to get a lot of time to write D: **

**Thank you to everyone who has read this fic, followed, favorited or reviewed! It means a lot and I'm glad you are liking it so far. I apologize in advance, this fic is a bit darker than I would like, but it's kinda necessary. I promise it will get lighter next chapter. :D  
**

* * *

"Fine, just as long as nobody is hurt. Okay?" Tony nodded.

"Promise." I looked at him as we stood in silence; waiting for him to show signs that he was lying.

"Do you want some coffee, sir?" Erna asked Tony, breaking the silence between him and I. He looked at me and smiled. I felt a flutter in my stomach, something that I had never felt before...

"Stop that." I muttered to my stomach. I heard Tony laugh at me and I felt my face turn red as I realized I had spoken out loud.

"Stop what? Am I not allowed to have coffee? I thought we we're on good terms again." I looked up at Tony perplexed, not saying anything. "Okay…you obviously are too drunk. Coffee it is Erna!" He grabbed me by the shoulders and started to guide me through the house but stopped.

"Living Room." I stated and pointed towards the door on my left. I felt him squeeze my shoulders harder, a touch my body automatically relaxed in. He plopped me onto the couch and sat in the armchair across from me. I studied him again, "So how does a boy who can't make a simple circuit board become Iron Man? That was the thing that always got me." Tony howled with laughter.

"I was having an off day when we first met, okay? It wasn't like I was constructing my first one." He smiled at me. "What did you think of me that day?" He asked as he got up from his seat. "Don't mind me, I don't really like sitting in the suit, despite popular belief." I smiled as he started to get out of his suit.

"I thought you were stupid." I said bluntly, still smiling as I reminisced about the time I first met Tony. "Honestly, I thought I would have a friend. I was happy to be around someone my own age, even if I thought you weren't as smart as me. It was just nice…" Tony smiled at me and nodded.

"I know what you mean. I thought you were…"

"Coffee is ready sir." Erna interrupted him, _Thank you Erna!_ "I would grab it for you, but I was never built something that allowed me to be mobile. Sorry." Tony smiled and got up.

"Something I can fix for you Erna, when Maggie finally decides to come live in Stark Towers." I could hear the smile in his voice. I blankly stared at the coffee table in front of me, as I tried to ignore the fear of leaving my home, going out into society; into groups of people.

"I already said I would go!" I called out at him. "I'm just not…." I gestured towards myself, not caring if he could see my movements. "…presentable in this state." I heard Tony chuckle as he walked out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee, a milk holder and sugar cup on a carrying tray.

"Sugar or milk?" He asked me. I nodded and he laughed. "Which one and how much?"

"Oh." I laughed. "Right, important information. Um, a little milk and three sugars please and thank you." Tony handed me my coffee and I cradled it in my hands, relaxing into the couch.

"I...I'm sorry to hear about everything that has happened to you Tony. I can only imagine what it was like…" I looked at the arc reactor that sat so delicately in Tony's chest. He followed my gaze, looking down as he grimaced.

"I was truly terrified." He paused and he let out a half-hearted laugh. "Something I've never admitted to someone before. I didn't really have anyone to talk to about it." Silence fell between us for a moment before I spoke.

"You had Pepper though, didn't you?" Tony shook his head.

"She couldn't have handled hearing what I had gone through. She was distressed enough knowing I had been captured. She was the one person who cared about me through all my years of recklessness, she couldn't take it much longer and I knew it." There was sadness and a sense of bitterness to his tone. He looked up at me with questioning eyes. "How do you know all of this? No offense, but you _are_ a social shutout." I smiled and shook my head at him.

"It's called cable, Tony Stark. You make quite the celebrity." I looked at him and he grinned. All of the interviews and newscasts I had seen about him ran quickly through my mind, but I seemed to be stuck on the news about him losing his parents. I was devastated when I heard that, only because I knew how hard it really was to live without them. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents, Tony." He smiled at me, washing away the sadness I felt for him.

"Thank you, but it seems like it was so long ago. Besides, it's not like they were truly in my life a lot growing up either, especially my father." I couldn't help but laugh and he joined with me.

"The joys of having daddy issues, huh?" I smiled at Tony but he quickly frowned, looking at me intently.

"Maggie…" He grunted and started to take off his helmet.

"NO!" I shouted. "Please, Tony, don't take that off. I mean, I just have to get my…"

"Why? Just talk to me like a normal person Maggie. Why are you so scared?" He interrupted me as he took off the helmet completely.

"Because my voice killed my parents." I cried out in hysterics. Scared to hurt Tony I tightly clapped my hands over my mouth, allowing tears to fall from my eyes. He looked at me with pure shock. Not knowing what to do or say, he just looked at me with his eyes opened wide.

"May I suggest some hearing aids, Sir? They will still do the trick so her voice won't affect you. They should be on the table in the hallway." Tony nodded and got up, leaving the room.

- Tony's POV -

My heart broke as I saw Maggie for the tortured soul she was. She was the reason her parent's had died, she kept herself in here by choice. She held herself prisoner, not allowing herself to get close to others in fear of hurting them. I knew the feeling, but I would never understand what it felt to her extent.

Knowing that your voice, just conversing with another person, could put them in harms way? I couldn't fathom the though or feeling. I didn't understand how it happened though, I could piece together a general idea through what I have seen and heard from being around Maggie and Erna, but it wasn't concrete enough.

I walked back into the living room, seeing Maggie disheveled and distraught on the couch, I sat down beside her, putting the hearing aids into my ears. "These won't blow up my eardrums right?" I heard her laugh through the tears and it made me smile. She pressed her face against my chest and I wrapped my arms around her, not wanting to let her go.

"I didn't know what I was doing." She spoke softly, her voice choppy at times. "I was born a Musical Empath but I was told that it meant that I had a special connection to music that was unparallel to a lot of people; hence me becoming a concert pianist at such a young age. Right before I first met you, I was singing to my mom on a daily basis. The usually lullaby, something she loved doing as a nighttime thing instead of reading me a book. But my ability naturally evolved, something I wasn't ready for." She took a shaky breath against me, I felt my shirt getting wet but I didn't care.

I knew it was hard for Maggie to talk about, I could only think of my experiences when I was captured and tortured but it wasn't the same and I knew it. I just had to bite my tongue and hold her closely, something I didn't mind doing for a change.

"The song was sad, the rhythm was slow and melodic but…that effected her being and her mood. I forced upon her the feeling that she received from the song, which drove her into a deep depression. It eventually killed her and my father hated me from that day. He wished upon me that I had switched places with my mother." She paused to take a shaky breath. "He used to tell that to me all the time. It was Erna who told me differently; she was the only person that kept me sane.

"My father got drunk one night and got angry with her for loving me and caring for me; he told her that it wasn't her place to have feelings for me and to give me a false sense of acceptance. In his rage he threw her down the stairs and she took blunt trauma to the back of her head; killing her on impact." I could hear the anger in her voice, she was no longer crying but she still had her head resting against my chest.

"That's when my power's strengthened again. Through distress, my abilities adapted to my needs. I demanded that my father bring her back. He took that command and became obsessed about it, he stopped showing up to work at Stark Industries and locked himself in the basement, making Erna into the A.I. she is today." I smiled as I heard the love and adoration she had for Erna; I almost felt like I needed to thank her for keeping Maggie here this whole time.

"My father used the work he did for your father for the design of Erna. He was working on a prototype of an A.I. defense system for Stark Industry building. He rigged this whole house with guns and laser's and weapons to defend me against intruders." She let out a small sob.

"When my father completed his work, he went into a blind rage. By this point he had almost stopped eating and just drank all day long. I was saying my prayers at my mother's bed, as I did every night without my father knowing. He didn't like it when I went into her room; he said I had no right. He was up late one night, unexpectedly, and saw me in her room. He started to beat me, but when he grabbed the lamp that was on my mother's bedside table, Erna used the defense system and killed him. His body went limp against me and he whispered 'It works'." I didn't move, I couldn't squeeze her tighter; I couldn't find the strength.

"After that, it was all over the news. I had people coming to the house trying to take me away to child services, find me a foster home, relatives trying to take custody of me. Everything in the estate was given to me my mother in my father's will and everything to me in my mother's will, ironically. I just simply would tell people to leave me alone, to never return or to forget about me. Soon people stopped coming by, until you. It's funny how much you miss human contact." She nuzzled against me and my hand automatically started to rub her back, something I had always done for Pepper when she was distressed.

"I'm sorry…" was all I could manage to say. I felt her smile against me, which seemed to relax me and it was reassuring to know that she wasn't sad anymore.

"It's okay Tony. It's something both you and I know to be true, this life that we've been given; the price we pay for being special...is having a life of loneliness. You aren't able to have people close to you." She hugged me tighter. "You'll just endanger them." She released me and sat up, wiping her eyes.

"Ugh, enough of that." She looked at me and smiled. "I would like you to take me to my new home now Tony." I felt the grin spread across my face. I jumped up, feeling giddy beyond belief.

"Of course! Let's go! I will come back for everything and anything you need. I promise. You will just have to spend a night with Jarvis instead of Erna." I saw the hesitation in her eyes. Her body language shifted as she started to withdraw from me. It was Erna's robotic voice that brought Maggie back to me.

"Go Maggie. You will be fine without me for one night. I promise." I saw Maggie glare out towards the distance.

"What can you promise? You're just a robot!"

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed it! I will try to update as soon as I can, but I'm unfortunately becoming busier and busier these days.**

**As always, thank you for reading and following the story! Hope to see you next time ^^  
**

**Narrie  
**


End file.
